//------------------------------// // The Mastermind Reveals Himself // Story: Shadows of Darkness, Flames of Courage // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// Tai slowly opened his eyes once again. The last thing he could remember was being pulled into the violet portal, and then suddenly getting a good conk on the head. For some reason he felt very groggy, as if though he had been drained of energy. To make matters worse, as he took in his surroundings he could not piece together where he was. Something about his location did not feel right however. The world all around him looked dreak and bleary. It almost looked like something out of those old black and white movies he'd seen his folks watch on t.v. sometimes. Just then Tai became aware of a sharp pain in his forehead. He groaned and brought a hand up to it to try and control the pain. When he realized what now lay in front of him he blinked. But sure enough a hand with fingers, instead of an orange hoof, greated his sight. There was no denying it, he was human again. But why? "I'm human? Yes, but how? And why? For that matter just where the hell am I?! Where is everybody?!" He slowly rose to his feet, a task that seemed to be rather difficult to do for some reason. Now he got a good look at where he was. This place, wherever it was, seemed to be some sort of beach. A gaint body of water could be seen not too far away. Up ahead there lay a small boardwalk, but where one would expect to see a lighthouse of some kind there was nothing, except for a small base of sorts. As if though there had at one point been a building, but someone or something had knocked it down. All of this only made Tai feel very uneasy. Something about this "ocean" felt very wrong. As if though there was something lurking, waiting for the right moment to spring out and attack. Carefully, but quickly Tai walked along the beach, looking for any signs of life. "Hello!" he called out. All he heard in reply was his own echo. But he kept on trying, he was hoping to get through to someone. "Hello!" he called out again. "Hello! Is anyone out there?! Anyone at all?! If you can hear me please say something! Anything! Anything at all! I-I mean no harm! I come in peace!" Suddenly, Tai saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Could it be?" he thought to himself. Using all of his strength he raced over to where he saw the figure laying face down. As he got closer he saw that the figure was actually a whole bunch of figures. All of them familiar. They were his fellow digidestined, and their partner digimon. His team. He'd found them! "Guys!" he shouted "Guys! It's me Tai! I'm so happy to see you!" "Tai?" Matt asked, the first of the digidestined to wake up. "Is it really you? You pulling my leg or something?" "Come on Matt, quit with the jokes. This is serious business. It's really me." Tai said. It took a moment for Matt to fully awaken. But when he did he saw that, sure enough, he was looking at his fellow leader, and close friend. "It really is you!" he shouted, wrapping his arms around Tai "Good to see you again! Where you've been buddy?! We've been looking all over for you." "I'm sure you were. And I can explain everything." Tai said happily "But for right now we need to figure out where the hell we are!" "I haven't even the slightest idea." Izzy said, waking up a moment later. "That's just great!" Tai said sarcastically. But his mood improved slightly as the rest of the digidestined and their partner digimon woke up. "Tai!" Agumon shouted, giving his partner the biggest hug he possibly could "I've missed you." "I've missed you too Agumon, but now I'm back!" Tai said happily. "Not that this isn't happy, but just where are we?" Davis asked. Kari suddenly gasped as she observed her surroundings. This place was all too familiar to her. She'd been here before, and it hadn't been a very enjoyable experience. "This isn't the digital world, Earth, or Equestria." she said glumly. "But then that means we're in the," Ken said, he gasped as the realization hit him "The Dark Ocean!" "The Dark Ocean?" Tai asked. "Yes." Kari said. "Oh, so that's what you call this place." a voice called out. Tai recognized it at once. "Twilight? Is that you?" Tai asked. "Yup. And my friends are here too." Twilight said, stepping forward. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike all did the same. "So we're all together, and we know we're in the dark ocean." Tai said "That still leaves the question of what we're doing here." "It's simple." an ominus voice said "You're here because I want revenge!" "Revenge?" Joe asked. "Yes. Revenge." the voice said. Twilight quickly realized who the voice belonged to. "King Sombra?" she asked, she was hoping beyond hope that she was wrong. But in her heart she knew she wasn't. "Indeed. So nice to see you recognize me, even after all this time, princess!" King Sombra said, revealing his shadowy form once again. "Why can't you ever just stay dead?! No one likes you!" Rainbow Dash said, striking a fight pose. "You think you're so tough!" King Sombra said "But you'd freeze right in your tracks if you actually had to fight me alone! Thankfully that's not an option this time. Because this time I'm not alone." "What the hay are you talking about?" Applejack asked. "Who could possibly want to work with a big old meanie pants like you?" Pinkie Pie asked. King Sombra laughed. "You would be surprised at how much help you can find in a place like this. And I have all of you to thank for it. If you hadn't defeated me in our last encounter I wouldn't have been able to find my way into this 'dark ocean'." he said happily. "You still didn't answer our question." Rarity said. "Not that we really want you to." Fluttershy said. "Yeah. I don't think we want to know who in their right mind would work with the likes of you." Spike said nervously. "Well I'll spare you all the suspense. Since you're all here, gathered together in one place." King Sombra said "Allow me to introduce my 'helpers'. And I have a feeling they'll ring a bell for you, digidestined! Because these guys have an old score that they've been itching to settle. Now, finally, that chance is upon them!" The sky darkened as King Sombra continued "Say hello to, Daemon, and Dragomon!" In two bright flashes of light two figures appeared. One to Sombra's left, and one to Sombra's right. The figure on the left wore a red cloak that obsecured his entire body, including his face. The only features that stuck out were two white horns, and two devil like wings of black and purple. The figure on the right looked almost like a sea serpent. Except it had a human face. It's enire body was a scaly dark green, with blood red eyes. Dark yellow fangs hung neatly in a row. They were Daemon and Dragomon. "Hello again digidestined." Daemon said "I hope you thought you hadn't seen the last of me. Because thanks to King Sombra I can finally have my revenge. I'll make you regret ever banishing me to this place!" "And while we may not have met face to face until now digidestined, rest assured that I know all about you." Dragomon said "I am the ruler of this here Dark Ocean. Everything that lives here bows to me! And I don't take kindly to the fact that one of you attempted to assist a rebellion that intended to overthrow me. Without my rule this place would descend into anarchy and chaos." "It is with the help of these two that I was able to bring you all here." King Sombra explained. Tai quicky realized where Sombra was going with this. "So that e-mail, was from you?" Tai asked. "Bingo!" King Sombra said "You were the perfect bait to bring everyone together. And you played your role perfectly. Only a fool like you could've fallen for such a thing." "Don't listen to him! He's just trying to play mind games with you!" Twilight said "Sombra always prided himself on his silver tounge. He'll say or do anything to make you believe him. Just tune him out!" "I see you are wise to my tricks." King Sombra said to Twilight "But this time even your magical know how will be useless to you!" "What?!" Twilight gasped. "I've got a bad feeling about this!" Cody said. "I'm going to fuse myself with Daeon and Dragomon. Creating a new ultimate creature of darkness. And then I'll destroy you all!" King Sombra boasted. "We will never fuse with the likes of you!" Daemon said. "Especially considering this wasn't in the terms we agreed to!" Dragomon said. "Well I regret to inform you, gentlemons, that the terms are subject to change. Starting now!" King Sombra demanded "The two of you WILL fuse, and you WILL allow me to fuse with you when you're both done!" "I won't do it!" Daemon said, folding his arms across his chest. "Me neither!" And you can't make us!" Dragomon said. "I wouldn't be so sure." King Sombra said with a smirk. He began to cast some of his dark magic onto the two evil digimon. "I'm sure you'll find that I can be very persuasive when the situation calls for it." "What is he doing?!" T.K. asked as he observed the scene. "I have no idea!" Twilight said "This is strange, even for him! Princess Celestia never said King Sombra was capable of this." "That's because I was wise enough not to reveal my entire bag of tricks when I fought the royal sisters all those years ago." King Sombra explained "This is just one of the many things that noone has known about me until now. As long as there's a sizeable amount of darkness in the heart of any living creature I can manipulate it. And since these two morons refuse to obey my orders, I am simply helping them make up their minds." "That's low, even for you!" Twilight said. "Why thank you." King Sombra said "Now then, let's try this again. Daemon! Dragomon! Combine yourselves into one! Now!" "Yes master." the two evil digimon replied. "Good." King Sombra said. "This is bad!" Tai said. "We've got to stop this! Ready Patamon?!" Gatomon asked. "Ready and waiting!" Patamon said. "Let's go!" Gatomon said. (Digivolution) Gatomon, digivolve to Patamon, digivolve to "I don't think so!" King Sombra said "Transformation is not a free action for you anymore!" Gatomon and Patamon suddenly winced, and shrieked in pain. (Digivolution failed) "This is not good! Now we can't even digivolve!" Joe said. "Thanks for stating the obvious!" Davis said. "SILENCE!" King Sombra shouted "Daemon! Dragomon! Hurry up and fuse already!" The two evil digimon did so. (Dark DNA Digivolution) Daemon! Dragomon! Dark DNA digivolve to, Chaosmon! (Dark DNA Digivolution complete) Now standing before everyone was a creature that seemed to combine Daemon's cloak, horns, and wings, with Dragomon's body,. eyes, fangs, and tail. The only thing that was new about it was the color of its scales, which were now a midnight purple, boardering on completely dark.